Garage saling for treasures

[Dinog11]

I've lately gotten hooked on garage sales.  I've actually found quite a few good deals on games for my collection.  I figured we should have a thread to discuss finds, unless I'm the only one who goes garage sale hunting.  Then I'll just be alone and sad.

I went today and didn't really get any video games, only a bookshelf for $3 and a painting of a wolf howling to the moon for $5.  Anyone else have any luck?

[Mick Dundee]

I personally don't Yard Sale (weekend awake time is 10 am - 2 pm-ish)
However my Father In-Law does. He stays on the lookout for games to sell on eBay, he lets me get first dibs though

 He got me my mint copy of Chrono Trigger and Breath Of Fire II (No map n Manual for BoF) in a box of 40+ games of SNES and Genesis for $30....he made $300 on eBay

 I have him looking for a TurboGrafx 16 for me along with any older games that he might be able to tell is RPG.

[Doom]

Nope. The only garage sales within walking distance have jack for video games.

[the7k]

I don't go yard sale hunting, although I wish I did. I just can't ever seem to get up early on a weekend.

I used to love to go flea market hunting, but that was back when I lived near North Carolina. Now that I'm pretty much in the dead center of South Carolina, the flea market here is just a bad joke filled with nothing but rotten fruit, unwashed clothing and those bootleg NES emulators that are shaped like an N64 controller - and that's on a good day.

[Dinog11]

I've been busy.  Gots myself a list of 11 garage sales for tomorrow, and I'll be stopping at others I find.  Hopefully I'll get some game-related purchases tomorrow.

I finally have discovered a hobby to keep myself busy on the weekends

[Dinog11]

I'm not sure if you'd consider this real good, but I found some stuff game related for once.
At sale one, I only got three DVD's(The Visitation, Rescue From Gilligan's Island, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) for $2.
At sale two I found a pile of NES carts with a Super Nintendo cart on top, all marked 25 cents. Decided to buy all except one, which they said I could have for free. Then I noticed a Dreamcast sitting all alone in the corner with only a controller. I asked if they had the cords, they found them. They also found some cords for an NES, which I got for free. Whole bundle cost me a dollar. Went to the car, opened the Dreamcast, found some demo disc called "Generator Vol. 2." Total damage: $2.75
Sale three was a community sale with over 15 stands and I only got some camera for $1.
Sale four rewarded me with the special edition set of the original Star Wars Trilogy and Celtic Christmas music   Damage: $2
At last sale I picked up five VHS movies for $3: Godzilla, Mortal Kombat, Men In Black 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Urban Legend.
Overall, I don't think it was that bad.  Now I need cases for the games I got!

NES Games
The Goonies II
Deja Vu
World Class Track Meet
Total Recall
Dragon Power
Strider
(free)Dance Aerobics 
(SNES)Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World

[sheep2001]

WOW - that's fantastic! 

We have car boot sales rather than garage sales in the UK, and i have never managed to get anything anywhere near as good a deal as that.  My best find was a boxed PSone, with 15 games for £25.  And i thought that was a good deal!!

[Dinog11]

Yeah, i have a feeling that I've used up all my luck for a while, gonna have to use a bike from now on.
I tested the Dreamcast and it works perfectly.  I also just realized that I bought 6 NES games and an SNES game when I don't have either console...
Anyone else ever have any luck in bargain hunting?

[tiktektak]

Jup there are many shops here in austria which are run by folks from turkey etc. and they've got such a nice "bargain" attitude... You know one can always get a discount from such people....

Besides they have no idea what games are worth especially retro stuff.... I also got a dreamcast for a few Euros once and a complete Mega CD 2 with box/book and some games for 20 Euros.... An Amiga 1200 with two boxes full of games for around 30 Euro.... Many nice PS1 games for 5 Euro per piece(Alundra, FF7 etc. included)....

I never had luck on a flea market though....

[Grumbleduke]

I once got a Mega CD 2/ Megadrive 1 combo, 2 pads (a sixer and a three)an RGB scart lead and Time Gal, Sega Arcade Classics ans Sol Feace/Cobra Command at a carboot for £13.00.($20.00 / 15 Euros) That would never happen now....bloody internet and e-bay put paid to video game price ignorance.

[Ragnarok2103]

i go to yard sales almost every saturday, but i usually dont find too big of a selection of games, and when i do there usually crap and the person wants way too much. the best deal i every found though was at a city wide yardsale. i got a sealed version of chrono trigger, final fantasy III (VI), Legends of Gaia, an SNES with two controllers, a guide for FFIII, a copy of final fantasy VII with a memory card with a ton of saves on it, and a few unboxed SNES games all for 10 bucks. i walked by the same people ten minutes later, and the kid was absolutely livid at his dad for selling everything so cheap.

[KaiserWAVE]

....bloody internet and e-bay put paid to video game price ignorance.

The good thing though is that with the course of time you know acceptable prices I search eBay literally every day, eBay Germany as well as co.uk and .com. The prices vary but they're usually in the same range. So when I go to my monthly flea market I know how I can strike a deal. Usually I go there with a few games in mind that I want to find, games which I know are rather pricy, and I always hope I find someone with a bunch of games and they don't know what they have For the last few months I was trying to finally complete my SNES collection so I was looking for a few games including Demon's Crest. That game is pretty rare, in all territories, and I don't feel like paying a premium price for an unboxed game. So I got to the flea market two weeks ago and finally found the game, unboxed and no manual though, for 6 Euros (around $9) from a woman whose face literally screamed "hey, I have no clue what I have, please take advantage of me"

[the7k]

Best find at a flea market: A lot of two Sega Genesis systems (one still in the box!), about 30 Genesis games (many sports titles, but all the Sonic games, Streets of Rage 2, Shinobi III, Street Fighter II, Samurai Shodown, Mortal Kombat II, Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion, Ren and Stimpy: Stimpy's Invention, Lion King, Aladdin, and both Power Rangers games were among them) and Tomb Raider III for the PSX - All of that for $37. I then sold all of the sports titles (Except for NBA Jam) to another flea market vendor for $15, which I then used to buy a six-button arcade stick for the Genesis so I could play those fighting games the way they were meant to be played. That was almost a complete Genesis collection for less than $40. All I need now (that I haven't since found at the same flea market) is Gunstar Heroes, the Phantasy Star games and Shining Force

Best find at a pawn shop: Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence Limited Edition - in complete condition - for $10. It's worth about 15-20 times that amount.

[TheNewKnightmare]

Today was the city wide yard sale, and myself and a friend of mine went out looking for some games.  I found an in-box Virtual Boy w/ four games, AC adapter, and controller, a Sega Saturn with a controller, all of the hookups, and a few games, and a Genesis with three controllers, all hookups, and several games.  Also got two PS1 wrestling titles, as well as a Star Wars game for PC.  Total:  $19! 

Can post pics if wanted.

[tiktektak]

Today was the city wide yard sale, and myself and a friend of mine went out looking for some games.  I found an in-box Virtual Boy w/ four games, AC adapter, and controller, a Sega Saturn with a controller, all of the hookups, and a few games, and a Genesis with three controllers, all hookups, and several games.  Also got two PS1 wrestling titles, as well as a Star Wars game for PC.  Total:  $19! 

Can post pics if wanted.

Excluding the VB it'S areally good deal but including the VB this is an truly awesome deal.... I've been on the lookout for a VB myself for some time but they are quite expensive on the net and non existent in Europe on flea markets....